1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus having a wireless communication unit, a control method therefor, and a storage medium, and in particular to an electronic apparatus capable of providing notification about a state of connection with a wireless access point, and reducing power consumption, a control method therefor, and a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, local area networks (LANs) using wireless communication, and so-called wireless LANs have been in widespread use. In wireless LANs, a wireless communication unit which a terminal apparatus (for example, an electronic apparatus) or the like has is connected to a network via a so-called wireless communication access point.
In such wireless LANs, as distinct from wired LANs, it is difficult to ascertain whether or not the wireless communication unit and the network are normally connected to each other by simply checking the connecting status of a cable.
For this reason, to provide notification about a connecting state and an operating state of the wireless communication unit in the wireless LANs, it has been proposed to light up a lamp such as an LED to notify a connecting state and others (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H03-263090).
On the other hand, due to promotion of energy saving in recent years, there is a growing need for techniques to reduce power consumption of even the wireless communication unit. Thus, when not operating, the wireless communication unit is held in a low power consumption state (so-called energy-saving mode).
In the wireless communication unit, while a lamp that indicates a connecting state and an operating state of the wireless communication unit is illuminating (that is, the lamp is on), power is being consumed as a matter of course. Moreover, a radio-frequency circuit used in the wireless communication unit generally consumes a large amount of power, and in the energy-saving mode, power consumed by the lamp and the radio-frequency circuit cannot be ignored.
For this reason, in the energy-saving mode, it is necessary to reduce current (or power) consumed by even the lamp, and further, it is necessary to properly check a state of connection in the energy-saving mode.